dazed and confussed

Today I awoke with a gecko crawling on my face and two more in my bed and 3 ontop of my bug netting. Good thing I like them. Also they are suppose to be good luck and collect near lucky people which now I believe, I have lucked out on being able to travel to such an amazing place, meet the people I have, fall inlove with Kent, have my family (even though they ae crazy), and have the friends I do.

Besides the weird but very cool wake up call today was a crazy, successful, and some what scary day. Today we had off so we had planned on going into town at 10 am to go shopping at the market and pick up more clothing (so we would stick out like soar thumbs). We had made it into the town of Puducherry when we had a government vehical trailing us. Soon it forced us to pull over at which point out driver and said government offical started arguing in Tamil. Then we were on the road again following said governemnt offical who had us escorted to the police station. Where Ravi our savor found us in the car and began argueing with the police. We sat in the car for about 10 minutes where apon Ravi came out to inform us that he and our driver had to go to court so we were to be in town and stay there till they came to pick us up later. Luckily later it turns out there was just a fine to pay, for having too many people in his car (basically because he had white people in his jeep).

Anyway we went shopping at the markets to waste time and money. I bought my first saree, it is a pretty orange and gold. Also Cj out TA has joined our crew! He is another amazing person that I have gotten the privalige to meet so far. I promise pictures by the beginning of next week of the people and of where I am living because none of you are going to believe it. 


 

hey I am alive

So let me start off by saying sorry. I have been having a few technology issues (my Asus has stopped working, its currently being worked on) so I haven't been able to update the blog. Luckily there is a spare computer here that I can use.  Health wise I am doing much better I went to see a doctor and I found out I have bronchitis luckily it is being dealt with. Other than that I am doing much better. I am also getting settled in on feral campus. This morning I was greeted by several lizards, frogs, and two peacocks. The huts are great, a little weird to get use to because you are pretty exposed but still very fun. I would also like to at this point thank Paul and Roxanne and Rose for the sleep sack it is a gods send. Tomorrow we are spending all day at the local markets which should be amazing and I will be picking stuff up for people.

Also yesterday (sorry I forgot about this) we went to the sadhana forest which is a completely eco-friendly community (all vegans living with the bare essentials) and it was pretty awesome, and really nice to see so many people caring about the environment, and talking about ways of reducing impact.

I should also introduce the crew I am with. At feral there are two amazing women from the village near us who cook and take care of us. There names are Chitra and Sumatai, they are extremely nice and this Sunday they are teaching us how to put flowers in our hair. Our night watchman who is also very nice is named Ram. He speaks no English and only Hindi but we both try and talk with each other. Also living close by is Ravi who helps us with everything.

Well I'm alive and hopefully I will get my computer back so I can post stuff in the future along with pictures. Miss you all!

Off to India

Well this will be my last post in Thailand for a while. We are leaving for India in a few minutes! I hope all of you are well! I am doing a little bit better. Look for more posts later about India!

some tummy issues

I have officially started taking Cipro. Due to having upper digestive track issues and having a soar throat and now hives. Other than that today has been a great last day in Thailand. We did some sight-seeing and shopping. I got awesome pants, and presents for Ally, and Kent. I also got a Pina Colada which was delicious and ate ice cream for dinner. Needless to say today was relaxing and fun. So I only have a few pictures 

sometimes 3 outfits is not enough

Can you believe its almost been a week? It feels like we have only just got here and we leave the day after tomorrow! I'm falling more and more in love with this place and the people. Everyone I have met are so happy and vibrant, Tara who will be living with us for our travels is amazing. She is so goofy and happy-go-lucky. Our dive instructors Mineesh, and Chris are so great, they are very funny and knowledgeable guys. The area is also very stunning, with blue water, white sandy beaches, and tropical jungles. What more could I ask for? But alas time for another shift to another amazing place. But before I start talking about the future I guess I should talk about today!

Today we left promptly at 8 and drove down to the docks where we left and went out to an island, which served as the site for our first two dives. Here we saw lots of big puffer fish, orange box fish, parrot fish, butterfly fish, trumpet fish, a blue spotted sting ray, and I'm sure lots of other things I am forgetting.

Then we took off for a little and went closer inland (about an hour) here we did a discovery dive and the area wasn't too bad it was filled with huge boulders and concrete blocks. Then we headed back inland just in time to see the sun set on the ocean. 

On this excursion I also came to realize, 3 shorts, and 3 shirts, are not enough to survive with for a three month long journey. 

found a pirates peg leg

I am trying to think of these last two days and away to sum up the last few days. Its been a blur of greenery, scenic places, and dream like experiences. The last two days consisted of over 14 hours of being on the water, and 2 hours of hiking up roads into jungles. 

This past Wednesday the 2nd I decided to go roaming around Phuket up into the edge of the town and the jungle, which has amazing views to the ocean. 

Then the diving began. Wednesday we went off shore diving which means with all our gear on we walked out into the ocean off of Kata beach. There we swam out to a coral reef. There we saw everything from butterfly fish, to porcupine fish. We also saw several lion fish, and a juvenile oriental sweet lips (this fish does a little dance as a form of mimicry). We also got to see how the local dive areas protect the reef from fishing trawlers. The sank giant cement blocks around the reef, which catches the nets of fishing trawlers. Not only do these structures protect the reef but that also serve as a "fake reef". 

Trying to think up a way to summarize all the amazing sites seen today is just to much so instead I'll introduce my day with a series of pictures. 

These are just a few of the many pictures taken. We went to three dive sites, two based next to the island cliffs, then the last one where all the blue anemones are is in the middle of no where. The first site was a coral reef where, we saw a green sea turtle, and eel, lots of parrot fish, butterfly fish, angel fish, urchins, puffer fish, porcupine fish, and cow fish. We also got to see living red corals, and apparently there was a leopard shark, however we missed it due to a previous dive group scared it off. The second site was again another reef next to these lime stone cliffs, but here we got to see a sea slug and a nudibranch! We also lucked out and saw two hawkbill sea turtles, and also more eels.Here I also had a little bit of an accident where I wasn't too focused on my air amount and need a budy to let me share their air. Where upon I started to drift towards the surface (note the picture above of the struggling diver).  The last dive site which is considered an advanced dive site due to the strong currents that circulate between these pillars of anemones and soft corals. Here we saw sea horses! 

Which were amazing. Also we saw lots of sea fans and over all it was just amazing. Tomorrow we are out at sea again! Look for more pictures and up dates.

its the good life

Yesterday was interesting to say the least. It began with brunch on the beach and snorkeling  where upon i saw a cow fish, damsel fish, wrasses, and some other fish. It was pretty sweet but today gets even better we are diving out on some reefs further away from shore! I am very excited. I also forgot to mention yesterday there were several incidents, such as cuts. I just nicked the bottom of my foot, so I cleaned it out removed sand, put 70% alcohol in it (which stung) and then super glued it closed. Also we started out daily feet bacteria killings which consist of soaking our feet in bleach water or in my case a bleach substitute for half a minute to keep any flesh eating bacteria, ringworm, or any other unwelcome guest from occupying our bodies. (fun right?). I'll post later about the scuba experience!